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KOBANE – Clashes broke out on Saturday between Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants in northern Raqqa, military sources reported.

The clashes centered in the vicinity of Tishreen Dam in the northwestern countryside of Raqqa, where the YPG and allies from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) repelled an attack by ISIS militants on the strategic dam.

“A group of Daesh terrorists attacked our headquarters near Tishreen Dam on Saturday evening. The group has used heavy machine guns and mortar fire in the offensive,” YPG spokesman Hebun Osman told ARA News, using an acronym for ISIS. “The group then tried to infiltrate into our command center east of the dam, which led to clashes that claimed lives of dozens of Daesh members.”

“The YPG and allied units of the SDF were eventually able to repel the attack. We have collected dead bodies of 38 Daesh terrorists after the clashes on Saturday midnight,” the official said, adding that seven Kurdish fighters were killed and a number of others injured in the clashes.

The Kurdish-Arab alliance of the SDF had recaptured the Tishreen Dam on the Euphrates River in December, subsequent to clashes with ISIS militants. The dam had severed over nearly two years as a main supply line for ISIS between the northern countryside of Aleppo and Raqqa–ISIS de facto capital in Syria.

On Friday, the western-backed SDF expelled ISIS militant fighters from the city of Shaddadi–ISIS main bastion in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province.